College staff devastated after damning inspection

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South Worcestershire College has been judged as inadequate by OFSTED inspectors.

STAFF at South Worcestershire College have said they feel devastated after inspectors gave it a damning OFSTED report.

The Davies Road college was given an overall rating of inadequate - the lowest grade possible - down from its satisfactory rating during the last inspection.

Student's results were also judged to be inadequate along with the effectiveness of the leadership and management, while the quality of teaching, learning and assessment was said to require improvement.

The results of the inspection have just been published following the visit from OFSTED in October.

The inspectors said the college was inadequate because a significant proportion of student did not achieve the qualification they enrolled for and too many failed to make adequate progress.

The achievement gaps between groups of students on different courses was also said to be too wide.

Staff also came under fire with the quality of teaching, learning and assessment judged to be too variable and not meeting the individual needs of students in all lessons. It also said students were not sufficiently challenged to achieve their full potential.

Bryan McGinity, chair of governors, said the judgement has been a real disappointment for everyone at the college as staff had been working hard to improve teaching, learning and success rates.

"We are all devastated. Everyone here has been working so hard to show OFSTED how well we support our learners to achieve and our success rates have been improving.

"Unfortunately, OFSTED judged that our progress had not been fast enough.

"But one key benefit of the Inspection has been to refocus intently on our core role to our students and our communities."

The report did highlight a number of areas the college was doing well in. It said it was an inclusive, welcoming and friendly environment where students felt very safe, apprentices could develop high level practical skills and achieve well because of a good work-based learning provision and there was good pastoral support for students, particularly vulnerable students and those with special educational needs.

The college said it had good procedures in place which were being used to make improvements. It will now continue to be monitored by OFSTED.